Goodbye, Kuro: We had a lot of great times--and even greater contrast ratios--together
Pioneer

It's a rumor no more: Pioneer has confirmed that it's exiting the TV business.

The Japanese manufacturer announced that it will stop producing TVs by March 2010, and instead focus on its existing car electronics and home audio-video lines. The company expects to slash 10,000 jobs (6,000 full-time, 4,000 part-time) as a result.

To date, the company's Kuro line of HDTVs were widely regarded as the best-in-class plasma displays available--check out CNET's review of the Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD, for example.

The Pioneer announcement comes just hours after Vizio announced that it would stop producing plasmas and focus solely on LCD panels instead. The departure of Pioneer and Vizio from the market leaves just three major manufacturers producing plasma TVs: Panasonic, LG, and Samsung.